The launches came a day after U.S. and South Korean officials said the North fired short-range weapons presumed to be cruise missiles into its western sea over the weekend.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in South Korea with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin as part of their regional tour aimed at boosting America’s Asian alliances to better deal with growing challenges from China and North Korea.
North Korea said Wednesday it will redeploy troops to now-shuttered inter-Korean cooperation sites, reinstall guard posts and resume military exercises at front-line areas, nullifying the landmark tension-reducing deals reached with South Korea just two years ago.